This invention relates to "skid steer" vehicles, such as motor powered loaders and other vehicles which preform their intended functions in restricted areas. Skid steer vehicles have wheels which cannot be turned in any direction for changing the path of travel; turning of the vehicle is done by making the wheels on one side travel forwardly and making the wheels on the opposite side travel rearwardly, resulting in a skid motion of the loader to change its direction of travel.
Loaders of this type have been designed to employ relatively short wheel bases supported on four relatively large diameter wheels, the wheel base permitting the vehicle to turn in cramped surroundings. Difficulties have been encountered in the operation of prior art skid steer vehicles due to the fact that differences in vehicle load forwardly or rearwardly of wheel base center causes the wheel traction to be confined to either the front wheels or the rear wheels of the four wheel drive. This results in raising one pair of wheels, either front or rear, so that the skid steering movement as well as single path travel depends on two wheel traction. Such prior art vehicles may employ two pairs of 29 inch diameter wheels, with the wheels of one pair spaced five inches from the wheels of the other pair. The resultant two wheel traction results in unstable and unsafe performance, and other objections such as digging of holes in the terrain.